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New editors named at The News-Times

New News-Times Managing Editor Jean Dubail poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Dubail, previously with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio and Patch.com, will start his new position in Danbury on Monday, April 28. less

New News-Times Managing Editor Jean Dubail poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Dubail, previously with The Plain Dealer in Cleveland, Ohio and Patch.com, will start his new ... more

New News-Times Asst. Managing Editor Brian Koonz poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Koonz was a reporter, editor and columnist at the News-Times for 21 years before working as the metro editor at the Connecticut Post, where he has been for the last year and a half. less

New News-Times Asst. Managing Editor Brian Koonz poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Koonz was a reporter, editor and columnist at the News-Times for 21 years before ... more

News-Times Editorial Page Editor Jacqueline Smith poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Smith has been at the News-Times since 2006 and will begin as editorial page editor on Monday, April 28. less

News-Times Editorial Page Editor Jacqueline Smith poses in the News-Times studio in Danbury, Conn. Monday, April 21, 2014. Smith has been at the News-Times since 2006 and will begin as editorial page editor on ... more

DANBURY -- Jean Dubail, a 30-year newspaper veteran with strong experience in print and online journalism, has been named managing editor of The News-Times.

As he takes that position, the current managing editor -- Jacqueline Smith -- will become the paper's editorial page editor.

Brian Koonz -- who worked as a sportswriter, columnist and Sunday editor at The News-Times for more than 20 years -- will return from the Connecticut Post, where he was metro editor, to become the paper's assistant managing editor.

"Jean, Brian and Jacky will make a potent trio," said Barbara Roessner, executive editor of Hearst Connecticut Media, which includes The News-Times, Connecticut Post, The Advocate of Stamford and Greenwich Time, as well as five weeklies. "Together, they will drive aggressive, public-service journalism for the readers and citizens of the Danbury area."

Roessner introduced Dubail to the staff and announced Koonz's promotion on Monday.

"I'm glad to be back and resume my career at The News-Times," said Koonz, 48. "And I'm looking forward to collaborating with Jean and the staff. It's a new chapter at The News-Times."

Smith, who has served at the paper since 2006, said she was honored to be taking a job held previously by Stephen Collins and Mary Connolly -- both venerated fixtures in the city and state.

"I'm ready to make the editorial pages more provocative and lively," Smith said.

Dubail, 58, begins his new job at The News-Times on April 28. He has a master's degree in history from Indiana University and a master's in journalism from the University of Missouri. Born in Waltham, Mass., Dubail spent only a year there before moving to St. Louis, where he grew up.

He started his career in journalism at the Palm Beach Post in Florida in 1983, before moving to the Sun-Sentinel in Fort Lauderdale.

In 1992, Dubail began a nearly 20-year career at the Cleveland Plain Dealer, where he worked successively as a reporter, assistant city editor, city editor, metro editor and editor of the paper's online edition.

He left the Plain Dealer in 2010 to begin a three-year stint at Patch, the digital local news network begun by AOL, serving as supervising editor over multiple Patch sites in the Midwest. Dubail left Patch in August.

Roessner said Dubail's experience in print and digital news formats would make him extremely valuable at The News-Times.

"He'll take a leading role in the print edition, in the daily breaking news on the free web pages and in the premium content in the digital edition of the newspaper," Roessner said.

Dubail said community newspapers like The News-Times offer one of the best hopes for continuity in journalism in the United States.

"Our industry is rapidly changing," he said. "Some of the big metro newspapers may not survive. But as long as there's a hunger for local news, which I believe there is, there's always a need for community newspapers."